PROJECT SUMMARY The major goal of the Faculty Recruitment Core is to establish the necessary workforce to meet the mission of PHSU of advancing the field of in minority health and health disparities through competitive research. This goal will be accomplished by recruiting highly competent research faculty in the targeted RCMI areas (Cancer Biology/Oncology, Neurosciences, Infectious Diseases, Human Genetics, and Cardiovascular/Hypertension research) through the implementation of effective strategies and guidelines. These new faculty recruits must have the necessary experience, potential, and expertise to secure mainstream funding from the NIH as other federal and non-federal agencies. Furthermore, these faculty members are expected to significantly contribute to progress in their disciplines through the development of highly visible peer-reviewed manuscripts and other scholarly activities. The intention is to recruit 2 faculty members every year during the 2019-2024 funding period. All positions will be open to National competition to recruit and retain the most promising and talented investigators. We propose to target a pool of junior and mid-career faculty candidates with strong professional credentials in our target areas. Importantly, these candidates must possess the necessary expertise and experience to be competitive for mainstream funding (R-type of grants through NIH and other mechanisms). The credentials of candidates will be assessed by a Faculty Recruitment Committee designated by the corresponding Dean of each PHSU School and approved by the Chancellor. Faculty Recruitment Committees are comprised of faculty members from the different PHSU Schools (Medicine, Public Health, and Behavioral & Brain Sciences) as well as key members of the staff. The committee evaluates the credentials of the applicants, deliberates, and ranks the three top candidates. Candidates will be invited to PHSU for formal interviews, and an employment offer will be issued indicating duties of the position and an attractive compensation package by experience and training of the candidate. The recruitment package will contain salary and fringe benefits according the current salary policy, reallocation expenses ($5,000 negotiable), laboratory and office space, accessibility to PHSU existing Core research facilities, and start-up research funds ($50,000 to $100,000/year for two years). Since cost of competitive research is constantly increasing, we request in the application an additional $100,000 per investigator for maximum of two years. Funding newly recruited faculty with $100,000 for a second year will be conditional to their research progress. RCMI funds will supplement the recruitment package offered by PHSU, for acquisition of key equipment, research supplies, salary for a post-doctoral fellow or other key personnel, and specialized consultants/collaborators, etc. Recruits will also benefit from the STrategic Academic Research Training (START) Core of this application. After proper negotiations and acceptance of the terms, the selected candidates will be invited to initiate their duties as regular employees of the institution. PHSU has recently developed policies and intended to enhance the retention of talented research faculty.